THE
WASHINGTON TIMESEDITORIAL: Obamas Brazilian model
Rousseff shows White House an authoritarian way
forward
By THE WASHINGTON TIMES

Monday,
April 9, 2012

President
Obama hosted Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff
at the White House on Monday. One syndicated news
story published before the presidential parley asked,
What could Obama learn from Brazil President
Dilma Rousseff? The optimistic answer is:
hopefully not much. This relationship is not in
Americas interest.

Ms. Rousseff is an exemplar of the anti-American
hard left that is uniting in the developing world to check U.S.
power. One of the main goals of her mission to Washington is to
get Mr. Obamas seal of approval for Brasilias ambition
to acquire a permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council.
U.S. support for this scheme would be self-destructive as Brazil
would provide a reliable vote against American interests in the
world body. Ms. Rousseff, a former communist guerrilla herself,
is a strong supporter of anti-U.S. dictatorships such as the Castros
in Cuba and Hugo Chavez inVenezuela. She has backed the Iranian
mullahs efforts to acquire nuclear capability while leading
a club of nations pressing for U.S. nuclear disarmament. If the
planet is divvied up between those who are for us and those who
are against us, Ms. Rousseff is on the wrong side.

Mr. Obama has nothing to learn from Brazils
leader on the economic front, either. Before she came to power
last year, the South American giant finally seemed to be crawling
into the society of serious nations. Although an old-school liberal
himself, Ms. Rousseffs predecessor, former President Lula
da Silva, took some big strides to improve Brazils business
climate and standing among investors by updating infrastructure,
working collaboratively with international nongovernmental organizations
and pushing a moderately pro-growth economic agenda. The perception
of progress helped Brazil win the 2016 Olympic games and the 2014
World Cup, a crowning achievement for a soccer-mad people.

Ms. Rousseff has taken an abrupt fiscal U-turn,
however, by clamping down on markets, instituting miles of new
red tape and ramping up government spending. Like in Obamas
America, the result has been dramatic economic decline. During
the height of the Lula administration, confidence in Brazils
direction led to predictions of long-term economic growth rates
of 5 percent and higher. But under the new statist direction of
the governing coalition led by Ms. Rousseffs Workers
Party, the economy has tanked, with 2011s gross domestic
product only growing by 2.7 percent, the lowest in South America.

Amazonian mischief is of interest to Americans because
Brasilias stranglehold on its people and economy offers
a cautionary tale about the threat unrestrained government power
poses to democracy. The increasing persecution of the conservative
group Tradition, Family and Property (TFP) exposes the dangers
of dissent in the rapidly secularizing world. Founded in the 1960s
to fight communism and promote traditional values, the TFP - which
is well-known in Washington circles for its active U.S. affiliate
- is Brazils leading opponent against leftist priorities
such as abortion, censorship and regulations that inhibit private-property
rights. Because it stands in the way of Big Brother, the government
has gone after the TFP. Most recently, the Superior Tribunal of
Justice, one of Brazils upper-level courts, ruled in favor
of a splinter group, the Heralds of the Gospel. The move, which
occurred under strong pressure from church authorities including
the Vaticans apostolic nuncio, is effectively gagging the
TFP by handing its assets over to liberal dissidents.

This tale matters because Brazil is now the worlds
sixth-largest economy and a leader of the coalition of second-tier
states looking to extract revenge for years of perceived Western
first world imperialism. The narrative mirrors Mr.
Obamas kneejerk Blame America First worldview.
Brasilia also shows how left-wing bureaucracies mobilize to stifle
dissent through censorship and confiscation of property when faced
with public opposition. This weeks confab between Mr. Obama
and Ms. Rousseff was more than a photo-op for two leftists whispering
about what the world could be if they had more power. Its
about what the world is already becoming.